I'm considering of buying an older Enduro like the Honda XR 600 R or Suzuki DR 350. Those bikes usually come with kick starter only. I however need to charge my phone and navigation equipment, so I'd need some stable 12V. Until now I just connected a standard waterproof 12V car connector to the motorcycles battery. But what do I do if the bike doesn't have any? Do Kick starter bikes even have standard 12V DC current where I could hook it up to?

The issue is not so much having a battery or not it's that often enduro bikes with no battery will have un-rectified ac voltage straight off the alternator to power the lights. In fact even some newer enduros with e/start and batteries still have a/c power for the lights, my '08 Beta does.

If you go for the trail version of the DR 350 then no problem as even the kickstart versions have a battery and DC lighting. No experience of XR s, think it depends on the market they were sold in, I believe Australian ones had dc lighting whereas USA versions had ac only.

I don't know where you're based but my advice would be to buy a trail rather than enduro bike if you prefer the older simpler style of bike, XT /TT600, Dr 600/650, DR 350 trail etc. I know they're heavier and suspension isn't as good but they have proper lighting, stronger subframes for loading luggage etc.

When it comes to wiring in your gps, usb , I prefere to take the live feed off of a switched source such as the sidelight to the headlamp ( with an inline fuse ) that way it can't drain your battery when the engine is off.

Thanks for those infos nico. I'm in Austria and I'm on a budget, XT 600 is also on my list. I didn't know kickstart - only bikes have a battery sometimes. In that case I'll look out for that. As long as there is a battery there's no problem.

In my previous bike I went directly to the battery since I wanted to charge my intercom during breaks without leaving the ignition on.

Have you considered a solar backpack? The KTM X-Country Backpack isn't cheap, but it has a solar panel and a 5000mAh battery built in. There are cheaper ones from other manufacturers which don't have a battery, like sunnybag.com . Or you could get a freeloader solar powered battery bank and secure it to the top of your luggage to charge through the day.

Have you considered a solar backpack? The KTM X-Country Backpack isn't cheap, but it has a solar panel and a 5000mAh battery built in. There are cheaper ones from other manufacturers which don't have a battery, like sunnybag.com . Or you could get a freeloader solar powered battery bank and secure it to the top of your luggage to charge through the day.

Thats a good idea, thanks. Not happy though to have to carry additional gear. In order to work properly, also in non-perfect conditions it probably would have to be considerably huge.

I suppose a serious power bank would be the more practicable idea when travelling in areas where you can find a plug to charge it every few days. 30.000mAh power banks cost around 30€, so that would be my first option I guess. 50.000mAh ones start around 100€ but that would last for weeks when only used for phone and navigation. Weighs 1,5kgs though.